Anisotropic electrical and magnetic properties of $\mathrm{Ce}T{\mathrm{Sb}}_2$ $(T=\mathrm{Cu},$ Au, and Ni) single crystals

In order to understand the anisotropic magnetic and electrical properties of ternary compounds $\mathrm{Ce}T{\mathrm{Sb}}_2$ $(T=\mathrm{Cu},$ Au, Ni) with the tetragonal structure, we have grown single crystals of this series by the self-flux method and measured the electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, and specific heat. ${\mathrm{CeCuSb}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{CeAuSb}}_2$ are found to order antiferromagnetically with Néel temperatures of 6.9 K and 5.0 K, respectively, while ${\mathrm{CeNiSb}}_2$ is a ferromagnet with a Curie temperature of 6.0 K with an easy axis of magnetization oriented along the [100] direction. The magnetic property of ${\mathrm{CeCuSb}}_2$ shows a very small anisotropy, whereas the electrical resistivity is highly anisotropic between $J\Vert$ [100] and [001]. In contrast, ${\mathrm{CeAuSb}}_2$ and ${\mathrm{CeNiSb}}_2$ show a strong anisotropy both in the magnetic and electrical measurements, although the magnetic easy axis is interchanged with respect to each other. The anisotropy in the magnetic properties has been explained on the basis of a crystalline electric-field model.